Classes (EU2012)

Soldiers in Enemy Unknown 2012 are divided into Classes, where each class has specialized stats and weapons, whilst also possessing unique abilities (a.k.a. 'perks').
When a Rookie is first promoted it will be assigned randomly to one class and be given its initial ability. As the soldier levels up more, the player gets to choose one of two abilities at each level, with the exception of Major where only one perk is available.

The system of different classes complement one another on the battlefield and provide unique abilities to each squad. Each class is focused for a specific role(s) and they are crucial to squad design with the right combination of abilities required for each mission, terrain, type of hostile presence and other factors. There are five classes of XCOM soldiers present in the game, with the Enemy Within DLC introducing a new one, the MEC Trooper.

Assault

A class with high mobility, defence and close range damage, hence the Assault class excels at close combat in urban or indoor environments. Its main drawbacks are the limited effective range of the Shotgun and the high cool down time of; and high dependence on Run & Gun. Useful for flanking and scouting.

The Assaults Ability choices are mainly divided between attack or defence stats/abilites on each tier, giving the player the choice of either going full defence, high damage or a trade of between both.
Stats gained through rank promotions will give the Assault a total of +24 Aim points upon reaching Colonel rank, together with a total of +4 HP and +14 Will.

Abilities

Rank

Ability

Squaddie

Run & GunAllows firing or Overwatch after Dashing on the turn Run & Gun is activated. 2 turn cooldown. Does NOT allow use of Arc Thrower but can pick up Meld.

Corporal

Tactical SenseConfers +5 Defense per enemy in sight (max +20).

AggressionConfers +10% critical chance per enemy in sight (max +30%).

Sergeant

Lightning ReflexesForces the first reaction shot against this unit each turn to miss.

Close & PersonalConfers +30% critical chance against adjacent targets. The bonus declines with distance from the target.EW DLC: The first standard shot made within 4 tiles of the target does not cost an action. Cannot combine with Run And Gun.

Lieutenant

FlushFire a shot that causes enemies to run out of cover. The shot is easy to hit with, but does reduced damage. (+30 Aim, 50% Damage)

Rapid FireTake two shots against a single target in quick succession. Each shot carries a -15 penalty to Aim.

Captain

Close Combat SpecialistConfers a reaction shot against any enemy who closes to within 4 tiles. Does not require Overwatch.

Bring 'Em OnAdds 1 damage on critical hits for each enemy the squad can see (up to 5).

Major

Extra ConditioningConfers bonus health based on which type of armor is equipped. Heavier armor increases the bonus.

Colonel

ResilienceConfers immunity to critical hits.

Killer InstinctActivating Run & Gun now also grants +50% critical damage for the rest of the turn.

Tips & Trix

Run & Gun could land you in trouble by activating more alien groups, when trying to set up a flanking position.

Run & Gun will only allow Fire, Overwatch and Rapid Fire after dashing. Use any free actions (like Ghost Mode) before.

Close Combat Specialist will trigger against any hostile unit that closes within four tiles, whether or not the soldier has taken any actions. Useful for setting up multiple shots against Berserkers or defending from Chryssalid charges.

Rapid Fire is not consumed if the alien is killed with the first shot. If the original hit chance is in 34%~96% range, rapid fire offers more chance to land at least one hit.

Flush will cause an alien to leave one cover position for another (if available). Make sure to set up Overwatch, Suppression or Close Combat Specialist shots beforehand.

Killer Instinct (+50% crit dmg), may also be combined with Overwatch and Close Combat Specialist shot.

The Enemy Within DLC version of Close And Personal functions similar to a Heavy's Bullet Swarm, given that the Assault is within the 4-square range (when this Ability is available, enemies will have an orange ring around them, akin to Arc Thrower functions). With Rapid Fire, how one would move, and shoot three times: move to within the ring. Fire a normal shot as the free move. Then use Rapid Fire. Only works once per turn (won't get multiple free shots on enemies with overlapping rings).

You can't activate Run & Gun after free Close And Personal shot, and you don't get Close And Personal shot after activating Run & Gun.

Lightning Reflexes works not only against Overwatch or Suppression shots, but it also forces a miss on Covering Fire shots.

Heavy

A class specialising in high fire power and area damage with some support capabilities. The Heavy is at its strongest vs mechanical or high health enemies, but can also be really useful in situations were the enemies cluster together. With the heavy damage comes the drawback of high ammo consumption, lower accuracy, limited rockets and the the lack of a side arm.

When it comes to abilities, the options are mostly between an improvement for more and powerful rockets/grenades versus a more potent attack with the soldiers primary weapon.
Heavies gain less stats upon promotion than other classes, +10 Aim, +4 HP and +14 Will as Colonel rank.

Abilities

Rank

Ability

Squaddie

Fire RocketFire a rocket using an equipped launcher. This ability can not be used after moving, nor more than once per mission. (6 Damage)

Corporal

Bullet SwarmFiring the primary weapon as the first action no longer ends the turn.

Holo-TargetingShooting at or suppressing enemies also confers a +10 Aim to any allies' attacks on those enemies.

Sergeant

Shredder Rocket Fire a rocket that causes all enemies hit to take +33% damage from all sources for the next 4 turns. The rocket's blast is weaker than a standard rocket's. (4 Damage)

SuppressionCan fire a special shot that grants reaction fire at a single target. The target also suffers a -30 Aim penalty.

Mayhem & Danger Zone combined with Suppression will deal area damage to units close to the suppressed one. Useful against aliens in high cover or versus Cyberdiscs/Sectopods with Drones and does not require the Heavy to hit the shot.

Mayhem/Suppression is also very useful as the killing blow to an alien with almost 0 health since its a 100% guaranteed shot.

Blaster Launcher does not require line of sight, but can be fired around buildings and walls.

Note that the Second Wave modifier Not Created Equally is one way to make the Heavy class more useful in the endgame at higher difficulty levels, at the expense of having to hire, screen and fire a lot of soldiers after getting the OTS New Guy perk. Not Created Equally can randomly generate Heavy Squaddies with up to 82 Aim.

Sniper

A class able to inflict massive long range damage on enemy targets from a position of safety. They are good at inflicting critical hits, and can augment the chances further with their special Headshot ability. Special training can allow the sniper to provide long range cover fire, disarm enemies or reconnaissance. The drawback being a Sniper can't move and shoot except with the Snap Shot talent.

The Sniper relies heavily on positioning, favourable terrain and the cooperation of squad mates to locate their marks. The Sniper is otherwise a poor close range combatant. Rank promotions will give Snipers the biggest increase in Aim when compared to the other classes (+40 points total). Their drawback is that upon reaching Colonel rank a Sniper will also receive less 1 Health Point than any of the other classes (+3 total) but the same Will (+14 total)

Abilities

Rank

Ability

Squaddie

HeadshotFire a shot with +30% critical chance and extra damage on critical hits based on the tech level of the sniper rifle. 2 turn cooldown.

Corporal

Snap ShotRemoves the sniper rifle's restriction on firing and Overwatch after moving. Any shots taken suffer a -20 Aim penalty.EW DLC: Removes the sniper rifle's restriction on firing and Overwatch after moving. Any shots taken suffer a -10 Aim penalty.

SquadsightAllows firing at targets in any ally's sight radius.EW DLC: Allows firing at targets in any ally's sight radius, but these targets cannot be critically hit unless using Headshot.

Sergeant

GunslingerConfers 2 bonus damage with pistols.

Damn Good Ground+10 Aim and +10 Defense against enemies at lower elevation in addition to the usual elevation bonuses. (including while flying)

Lieutenant

Disabling ShotAllows the Sniper to fire a shot that causes the target's main weapon to malfunction. The target may use Reload to fix the weapon. The shot cannot inflict a critical hit. 2 turn cooldown. (-10 Aim, reduced Damage)

Battle ScannerScanning device, when thrown creates a new source of vision for 2 turns. Can only be used 2 times per battle.

Support

A flexible class focusing on squad defence, medic or fire support. Highly mobile and useful for setting up flank attacks, or defending flanks. Its drawback being the lack of high damage attacks and low critical chance.

SentinelAllows two reaction shots during Overwatch, instead of only one.

Tips & Trix

Smoke Grenade

Smoke Grenades mean the difference between life and death in the game due to the Defense bonus it provides. Later they can carry Combat Drugs switching their role for an offensive one.

Supports can carry an additional Smoke Grenade with Smoke and Mirrors but they'll forgo the additional Medikit usage.

Dense Smoke doubles the Defense to +40, giving units on the cloud the equivalent to full cover. If already in full cover the bonus can increase to +80 or more.

Combat Drugs is also a great ability specially when setting ambushes to advancing aliens or if you can plan the cloud deployment in advance. It can also be used to counter Will losses coming from Psionic attacks in the late game stage.

Additional Notes

Support abilities upgrades are centered on medical, scout and sentry roles.

The Field Medic perk dramatically improves the effectiveness of Medikits, tripling the number of uses. Savior further improves Medikit effectiveness, and Revive can allow the Medikit to bring critically wounded soldiers back in to the fight.

The Sprinter perk and additional smoke capacity makes for a good scout.

Psionic

A Psionic is a late game 'extra' class that appears once you tested your soldiers for psionic ability. Higher Will makes the more likely to have the gift. They can use their mental powers on the battlefield to panic/control enemy units or to create physical attacks. Psionic soldiers get access to their regular class abilities in addition to their psychic powers, allowing for some interesting combinations. A Psionic soldier will have a purple effect applied to their class identifier.

The Psi Lab is required to rest soldiers for psionic powers, and will only be available after conducting a Sectoid Commander autopsy, or interrogating a Psionic alien, if the Second Wave's More Than Human option is activated.

Mind Control will end at the beginning of your turn, usually giving you an opportunity to attack the previously Mind Controlled unit before it attacks or moves.

If you Mind Control a psionic alien, you will have access to making the alien use some (not all) of its psionic capabilities, including abilities that the XCOM psi operative does not possess. For example if you mind control an Ethereal, you can use its Rift ability, which normally is only available to the Volunteer.

Mind Control has no effect or limitation on the psi operative performing it. They can move and attack with weapons freely, that does not interrupt or end the Mind Control.

An alien under the effects of Mind Control is treated as one of your soldiers for pretty much all intents and purposes. You cannot target the unit with direct fire weapons. Surprisingly, your soldiers will take the Will penalty if he dies, as if a friendly unit had died.

Killing an MCed alien (such as with rockets or grenades) does not give Experience Points (XPs), however it does count to that soldier's list of kills.

Therefore you may want to damage the alien while it is MC'd (for example by making it fight other aliens, or dropping a grenade on itself as well as aliens), and then easily perform the kill when it is back under its own control.

However if it does die while being MC'd, the alien's equipment does not self-destruct (unless it's killed with explosives), allowing you to recover its equipment (usually a weapon and maybe a grenade) at the end of the mission, similar to if you had stunned it with an Arc Thrower.

Surprisingly, a psionic alien unit that is performing a successful Mind Control cannot itself be Mind Controlled until its Mind Control has ended. The same applies to XCOM psi operatives during a successful Mind Control.

Psi Inspiration

Psi Inspiration also affects the psi unit who uses it (this isn't clear in the description). This makes the ability very powerful for increasing the success rate of other abilities such as Mind Control, as well as improving defense when tackling psionic aliens.

Psi Inspiration does not stack with itself.

Psi Inspiration also removes the Fallen Comrade Will debuff. This is especially useful when using Mind Control.

Psi Inspiration does not stack with the new Enemy Within DLC OTS perk Lead By Example. Whichever provides the most Will will be chosen. Squad Leader with 140 Will will override any soldier boosted by Psi Inspiration if less, otherwise will be given the Inspired bonus. Any soldier within range of Psi Inspiration will still receive bonus but it is not "tacked" on to Lead By Example, for clarification purposes.

However, it is extremely important to have your highest Will soldier as Squad Leader because if his Will is boosted, every nearby soldier regardless if they were Inspired or not, will receive the boosted Will. (Great way to get all nearby soldiers to nearly 200 Will! High Will Psi soldier with Psi Armor, Mind Shield, + Will medals, Psi Inspired and Squad Leader will turn squads into Ethereal Death Squads.)

The Support's Combat Drugs includes a Will bonus, but this does not affect any Psi Abilites (ie: will not stack with Inspiration, or enhance MC/Panic/Mindfray probability).

Rift

Only one psi unit can become The Volunteer, and this occurs when they use the alien device in the Gollop Chamber. This unit gains the Rift ability, which is otherwise only possessed by Ethereals.

The Rift ability is a wide area-effect psi attack that can inflict massive damage, but has a long down-time.

Rift is the only Psi attack used by XCOM's soldiers that can attack Robotic units, and, if the Volunteer is a Heavy, it does benefit from the HEAT ammo ability.

Enemy Within: Mindfray benefits from HEAT ammo if used against Mechtoids.

MEC Trooper

The MEC Trooper is a new class of soldier that is introduced by the Enemy Within DLC. A MEC Trooper requires Meld and can be created from any of your existing soldiers (from any class, except Psionic) after building the Cybernetic Lab. It costs §10 and 10 Meld to transform a soldier into a MEC Trooper. The soldier will lose all of its existing abilities but see its HP increase and will have its own abilities tree, starting with Collateral Damage.

MECs are walking tanks that are usually used for either Fire Support or Close Combat. Tactically they're a mixture of the Heavy and Assault classes, being built for frontline roles. Since MECs can't use Cover like regular soldiers they're equipped with specialized armor to be deployed, in the form of the Mechanized Exoskeleton Cybersuit (MEC Suit). MECs can't carry regular items but the MEC Suit offers a choice of two different Tactical Subsystems at each tier level.

The MEC's Ability choices are mainly divided between Fire Support or Survivability stats/abilites on each tier, giving the player the choice of either going full defence, high damage or a trade of between both.
MEC Troopers gain a total of +10 Aim points upon reaching Colonel rank, together with a total of +4 HP and +14 Will through promotions.

Abilities

As part of the conversion process, each soldier turned into MEC will gain a bonus ability based on its former class and will retain its previous rank, replacing its previous abilities with MEC ones:

- Assault: Shock-Absorbent Armor - Damage received from enemies within 4 tiles is reduced by 33%.

OverdriveFiring the MEC's primary weapon as the first action no longer ends the turn.

Colonel

Absortion FieldsAny hit that makes 33% more damage to the MEC's maximum health is reduced to that number.

Reactive Targeting SensorsMEC gets a free shot back at the first enemy who attacks the MEC each turn, providing there's enough ammo do to so.

Tips & Trix

MEC Troopers can be created from any soldier above rookie rank, but they'll lose all abilities they previously had. For example, if player sacrifices a Sergeant-ranked soldier, he/she would get a Sergeant-ranked MEC, along with the ability to choose skills from the first three ranks.

A MEC Trooper who is converted will retain their stats from before conversion, meaning you may want to put off augmenting your (non-Heavy) soldiers until already high ranked, since the Support, Assault and Sniper classes have better stat progression than the MEC Trooper class.

Heavies are best augmented at Lieutenant rank to ensure additional stats, especially with Second Wave options enabled.

The Cybernetics Lab can augment 3 soldiers at a time and it costs §10 and 10 Meld units. The process takes 3 days and soldiers will lose all Gene Mods when augmented. The process is irreversible. Take note that wounded soldiers can also be augmented.

Any soldiers tested positive with Psionic ability are automatically excluded from MEC conversion, and MEC soldiers can not be tested whether or not they are gifted.

Any medals given will remain after conversion, and MEC soldiers can still be awarded medals (remember that a MEC can't go into cover, so giving it the defensive bonus while in cover is pointless).

If the damage suffered is in excess of the MEC Suit's HPs then the soldier will have to endure wound recovery time.

If the MEC Trooper is killed, the MEC Suit has to be repaired with small cost.

MECs are very expensive to purchase, costing up to 200 Meld to create a MEC and equip it with the most advanced MEC Suit.

MEC Suits came with the Minigun as its default Primary Weapon: more advanced primary weapons need to be manufactured in Engineering before being deployed.

They are immune to fire, strangulation, and poison but can still be psi attacked (and mind controlled) by Psionic units.

MEC Troopers can be healed with Medikits, Restorative Mist, Improved Arc Thrower and by captured Drones. Repairing with Arc Throwers is arguably more efficient, since if you don't stun any enemies, an Arc Thrower could be used to heal your MECs and save Medikits for your other soldiers. Deep Pockets will increase Arc Thrower usage to three, which could allow for seven healing uses between Field Medic and Medikits.

MECs can't use Cover (so they can't be flanked). To compensate that they have Hardened ability present on S.H.I.V.s and alien robotic units that gives increased protection against critical hits.

MECs can climb over half cover berms and up ledges, but are too heavy to use ladders and drainpipes to scale buildings, they can however use alien grav lifts.

MECs rely on the Foundry for several essential upgrades through different projects:

Kinetic Strike Module: MEC Close Combat - increases weapon's damage from 12 to 18 and using the Kinetic Strike as first action doesn't automatically end the MEC's turn.

MEC Troopers get monotone, Robocop-esque voice.

Class Assignment

The game follows a set of rules when choosing a class for a soldier, according to this Nexus forums thread. Those are:

Choose a random class that doesn't have any live (Barracks) or dead soldiers (Memorial).

Following this rule, if you promote all 4 soldiers on the first mission, you'll get the 4 classes.

If all classes have been generated at least once, then pick a random class with the following restrictions:

Classes with 0 live soldiers are prioritized over classes with exactly 2 live soldiers.

Classes with 0 or 1 live soldiers are prioritized over classes with exactly 4 live soldiers.

If 1) and 2) don't apply, the soldier's class will be randomized.

As a result of these rules after one class has 5 or more live soldiers then the assignment will be completely randomized.

Soldier Mission rewards

Abductions

If a soldier is received as a reward through completion of an Abductions or then its class will be determined by the following criteria [1]:

If any classes have 0 or 1 soldiers alive, there is a 50% chance that one of those classes will be picked (equal chance for each).

If the class is not picked in step 1, there is a 50% chance of picking the class with the smallest maximum rank. If multiple classes are tied for the smallest maximum rank then randomly pick one of them.

If the class is not picked in step 2, then randomly select a class, with each class having equal chance.

If by any chance none of the criteria above is used, then the soldier will be a Heavy.

Abductions rewards can receive the following ranks (chosen randomly):

Sergeant

Captain

2nd highest rank present in Barracks

Council Missions

Reward soldiers received from Council missions are generated using the general Class Assignment method. The rank in all is predetermined into receiving a Sergeant/Captain or the 2nd highest rank.

Psionic Selection

There are special rules for a soldier to be assigned to the Psionic subclass - check Psi Lab for further details.

Enemy Within DLC

In the EW DLC the rules for class assignment upon reaching Squaddie rank have been changed in order to reduce some randomness and to ensure a better balance between the 4 classes.

First four soldiers still are assigned each to the 4 starting classes (Assault, Heavy, Sniper, Support)

After that the game creates a deck of 4 cards of each class (16 cards total). It then randomly discards 3 of those cards and picks, also randomly, a card of the remaining 13 to determine the class while generating soldiers.

When there's no more cards on that deck, a new set of cards is created by the preceding rule.

Class Design/Dropped Features

Ananda Gupta has revealed several aspects about the class during a panel ([2]), dedicated to the theme during Firaxicon 2014.

The introduction of the class system was done after a lot of work had already been done into the game and it was inspired by Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games.

The class system and trees had a lot of inspiration from the one used on the Battleheart game.

At a certain stage it was considered to have 'Prestige' versions/upgrades for each classes, which would be unlocked by completing specific missions (they were considered for the Slingshot DLC). The idea eventually was dropped but the Flamethrower (for the prestige version of the Assault class) eventually made its way into the MEC Trooper on the Enemy Within DLC.

The fact that Major rank only has 1 available ability comes from the idea that each class needs to have 1 ability focused on survivability.

An aspect considered important was the ability to recover from squad wipes. The experience system was designed to have bonuses from killing higher ranked aliens to help recover, but it wasn't such an issue as the developers worried.

Another issue was giving to each class an active ability right at Squaddie rank to give the player an additional button to use while playing.

Initially the MEC Trooper was designed with a 3rd option for a Shield, in addition to the Flamethrower or Kinetic Strike Module.